A TEESSIDE mum-of-three who threatened to batter a pregnant woman and tried to gouge out another person’s eyes has had her jail sentence slashed on appeal by a top judge.

Chelsea Louise Hughes, 23, of Cotswold Crescent, Billingham, was jailed for three years at Teesside Crown Court in August after admitting assault occasioning actual bodily harm and violent disorder.

She appeared at London’s Court of Appeal this week where a judge cut her jail time to two-and-a-half years, after hearing of her parents’ efforts to support her on release.

As previously reported, Hughes was sentenced alongside brother Karl Hughes and her boyfriend Paul Durkin for a spate of violence and destruction over several months.

On October 6, last year, Chelsea Hughes attacked a woman as she left a Billingham pub - punching her, grabbing her by the hair and attempting to dig her nails into her eyes.

The victim suffered a fractured cheekbone and eye socket in the attack and had to have metal plates and screws inserted in her face.

Hughes, a beauty therapy student, was arrested and bailed, only to commit a second offence at the home of pregnant Melanie Kerr in Corfe Crescent, Billingham, in February.

She broke into the house with Durkin, 21, and four others, and told Miss Kerr she would “kick her face in”, before pushing her.

Later, the house, which had its front room trashed, was set on fire, but Hughes was not accused of playing any part in the arson.

At the Court of Appeal, her lawyers accepted a sentence of immediate prison was inevitable, but argued three years was too long.

Her parents had made plans to convert their loft so Hughes and her children could live with them when released, the court was told.

Judge Peter Jacobs, sitting with Lord Justice Goldring and Mrs Justice Dobbs, said the court had also received a good report from prison authorities, which suggested she was making a good attempt at rehabilitation.

He said: “Taking into account her role in the violent disorder, her guilty pleas, her domestic circumstances and, in particular, the matters which weren’t before the original sentencing judge, it is possible to reduce the sentence on the violent disorder to two years.

“This will be served consecutively to the sentence of six months for the assault occasioning actual bodily harm.”

Durkin, of Delaval Road, was sentenced to six years in jail - three-and-a-half for reckless arson and a further two-and-a-half for wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm during a separate earlier incident.

He and Karl Hughes, 21, also of Cotswold Crescent, had set out to settle a dispute, but ended up beating up an innocent teenager on Station Road, Billingham, by mistake.

Hughes was sentenced to two-and-a-half years for the attack. He was also given a concurrent sentence of six months for driving a stolen car while over the drink-drive limit.